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African Owl Mask

This owl face-mask can be a cool project for the classroom. I tested this design with my 5 year old grandson one Sunday morning at the nearby breakfast eatery. I had preprinted all the pieces (2 wing tips) on card stock paper, grabbed a roll of scotch tape and a pair of scissors to bring with us to the eatery, then counted on Coco's tradition of having collections of red, green, yellow and blue color crayons. Sure, I could have brought my own box of umptiddyump colors, but I like to use the primary colors. It is fun to teach a child how much havoc these three little primaries, RYB (red, yellow, and blue), can wreak. Besides, those simplistic activity sheets restaurants hand out don't keep the average child busy for more than a minute or two. After that they begin gnawing the table legs or looking for some abc gum under the table.

>Oh, yes, I was rambling a bit. At the restaurant, we order breakfast then spread out our crayons and got busy coloring the pages. By the time breakfast arrived, we had created an 3 foot wide big owl mask out of 5 regular sized pieces of card stock paper. You can bring your own images printouts with you to entertain the kiddies you travel or while visiting relatives or friends.

African masks are dramatic portraits of spirit beings, departed ancestors, and invisible powers of social control. The owl has significant spiritual importance for many cultures, past and present. Mostly the owl is seen as a bad omen, bringer of illness or worse. I think the probable reason is because the owl was seen as a mysterious night creature with huge eyes, haunting calls and very sharp and deadly-looking talons. Some people believe if you hear an owl's hoot something bad will happen. Poor owl, he's just looking for love.